A wargame conducted last month anticipates higher prices, fewer products and reduced manpower as a result of the corporatisation of process of India’s Ordnance Factory Board that traces its origins to the early 18th century and employs an estimated 80,000-strong workforce.
Director General (Acquisitions) Apurva Chandra clarified at a webinar on Friday that ‘We have already launched two programs on it (Chapter 07) and we don’t foresee a change in this (FDI limits)’.
Part III of this analysis examines the implications of the single most interesting data point to emerge from the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. This date has never been mentioned in earlier media reports, and what is almost startlingly significant is not only what transpired on this date, but the fact of the date, itself.
Part II of this analysis examines how the defence ministry’s Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) interpreted an inflated cost analysis of the Eurofighter bid and undervalued the cost of the Rafale bid, five times.
Part I of this three-part analysis is a contextual reading of the February 2019 CAG report and outlines how the IAF’s MMRCA contest was fixed to get the Rafale back into the contest after it was rejected, three times, and how the threats to a Rafale win were removed.
While earlier the period allowed to vendors for delivery began from the date of contract, it will now begin from the date of advance payment. The delivery schedule and invocation of any late delivery penalty clause will be governed by the date of advance payment.
Even after two decades since the acquisition case, the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) search has seen a system absent from trials and failing trials, being passed as technically compliant and ending up as, apparently, the cheapest. Also problematic is the difficulty its purchase could pose by provoking U.S. sanctions under their CAATSA.
The Indian Navy has increased the mandatory tenure of captains to eight years before officers can be eligible for promotion to the rank of commodore. As a result of this, captains in the navy will spend an additional three years in the rank – up from the existing five-year tenure, before they are eligible to being considered for promotion to commodore.
The list of 51 items proposed consists of a range of equipment and includes fighter aircraft, amphibian aircraft, tanks, artillery, small arms among others.
Taken literally, the defence minister’s words could have signified a change in India’s nuclear deterrence policy, which is structured around No First Use followed by ‘massive retaliation’.
The defence ministry has provided a singular and unconvincing defence of why it did not ask for, or entertain, a competing commercial offer for the Eurofighter Typhoon pitched by Airbus.
The winners of the contest will be awarded cash prizes and invited to the Republic Day Parade on January 26 and the Beating Retreat on January 28, with travel and stay paid for by the government.
India’s defence procurement continues to raise more questions than answers, points out Hemant Shivakumar, with the uncertainty over the order of Spike Anti Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) appearing to be the latest casualty to the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
